


Gray Eyes, Red Skin

by Jqck



Category: Banana Bus Squad, Ohmtoonz - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Demon, M/M, angst again, blind, im sorry, im sorry XD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 06:49:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17462648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jqck/pseuds/Jqck
Summary: This fic is inspired by a comic art made by Avid and here's the link of her tumblr and her art: https://avid-draws-stuff.tumblr.com/post/180783872030/more-a-little-ohmtoonz-before-i-head-to-bed-iI was very blessed and grateful that she allowed me to write something for this. She even gave me some of the rules of the world, and I hope justice has been served. Do follow this talented bean! She has a lot of awesome art <3I also put a - symbol every time the POV changes :D





	Gray Eyes, Red Skin

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is inspired by a comic art made by Avid and here's the link of her tumblr and her art: https://avid-draws-stuff.tumblr.com/post/180783872030/more-a-little-ohmtoonz-before-i-head-to-bed-i
> 
> I was very blessed and grateful that she allowed me to write something for this. She even gave me some of the rules of the world, and I hope justice has been served. Do follow this talented bean! She has a lot of awesome art <3
> 
> I also put a - symbol every time the POV changes :D

Cartoonz had been immobile for a minute or so, an elbow propped on a table, a cheek resting on his fist, his eyes half-lidded. He couldn’t even feign displeasure to the little kid that kept on running behind his seat, nor to the waiter that spilled wine at his sneakers and at the hem of his pants. He was annoyed but at two whole different reasons: prying eyes feasting on the man in front of him and the said man being a stubborn bitch.

Sitting on the opposite side of the table was Ohm with his usual gray blindfold, his hands gently tapping on the surface of the table as if playing an invisible piano. He was trying to find his spoon and his teacup. 

Thrice. He refused Cartoonz’s help thrice.

His friend was always like this: pretending he wasn’t blind, pretending the world didn’t fuck him over, pretending he didn’t need anyone. He thought that he had to learn to live in this dark world by himself and himself alone. But how would he do that? It was like adjusting from living in spring to living underneath a frozen-over lake.

Ohm was in an accident a year ago, and it damaged some of his muscles and a little bit of his skull. But the brunt went to the nerves that were important for his vision. Family and friends stayed with him for months, but eventually left him. The reason: Ohm pushed them away. Cartoonz would have left, too, if he hadn’t known Ohm to the core.

Cartoonz was a half-demon by then, had sold some chunks of his soul to the devil when he was far from sober. One moment he was flashing two fingers to the bartender for a couple of glasses of alcohol and the next moment, a scythe was slashing through his body diagonally. Despite not knowing where he bartered half of his soul for, he hadn’t really regret that incident: he had cool powers now and felt really strong. However, he wished it didn’t happen before Ohm’s accident. That way, he could have made a deal with the devil about giving back the man’s eyesight.

It would be a win-win situation for the two of them—he would get the powers and Ohm would be perfectly normal again.

-  
Finally, Ohm grazed something cold with his little finger, but someone accidentally bumped his elbow that sent the spoon away from him. Based on the tiny voice that yelped an apology, it was a kid, who was most probably the one who also kept on ramming onto his chair since he arrived. Ohm didn’t mind; he was sure he had been way worse when he was young. He tried to grab the spoon again, but it wasn’t where he last patted. 

A sigh escaped through his nose, slowly. It shouldn’t get him frustrated anymore, and normally it wouldn’t have, but having to do this in front of Cartoonz, the most impatient person he knew, sent his anxieties close to the surface. 

“Let me help, you dummy.”

“I’m fine. I can do it—hey!” 

-  
Cartoonz grabbed Ohm’s cold calloused hand and pulled the man up from his chair, their table being knocked in the process, causing the porcelain cups to roll to their sides until their handles stop them. When he saw a waiter with a tray, he slammed paper bills to the man’s chest, the flower falling off of his shirt pocket. 

He did not look back. He couldn’t care less about anything. They could all look at Cartoonz being all problematic. As long as they didn’t stare at Ohm with those miserable looks. Ohm didn’t deserve that—he was more capable than most of those fucks.

Cartoonz practically dragged the man against his will, and he could feel Ohm’s little tugs, trying to slip from Cartoonz’s grasp, but Cartoonz held him firmly enough. 

“This is not. . . how you treat. . .blind people, Cartoonz.” The panting of his friend sent guilty nerves. The man hadn’t been able to work out since the accident, so it was understandable that the little running would be too much for Ohm.

“Bitch, you like to pretend you can see. Now pretend you can run.” But his long strides slowed, pulling Ohm close to him. Cartoonz was a little buff after all; he could shoulder people away from his path, so they wouldn’t accidentally bumped onto Ohm. 

Cartoonz let out a puff. As much as he was annoyed at how Ohm wouldn’t accept any help, he also didn’t want the guy to be people’s form of entertainment here in public.

So in a lesser hostile tone, he assure Ohm, “Don’t worry. I got you. I just want to get out of that cafe. I don’t feel good in there.”

The hand in his grip relaxed. He didn’t have to drag the blind man anymore—they seemed like two people just walking against the current of padded sleeves and flowing scarves, hand in hand.

He brought the two of them to a park of brick walkways bordered by crunchy brown leaves. There were slides and see-saws around the balding parts of the ground where grasses usually thrived in green. At the end of the main walkway was a fountain built in ceramic, cracked at some edges where water seep through. Cartoonz headed there, and rounded to the side where people were scarce and where they faced the forest. Since he knew the ledge would be cold for Ohm, he shrugged off his coat, folded it in three, and settled it on the driest surface. 

-  
“Sit down.” Ohm heard his friend say. He stretched his hands downward to feel for the thing he should be sitting down on, but Cartoonz was already pulling his arm until his fingertips sunk onto cottony fabric. Ohm guided his body slowly until he was sitting on it. 

“I want to try something,” The southern lilt was thick on that one, and normally, it should have comforted Ohm. But when Cartoonz became adventurous like this, he couldn’t help but bite his lower lip in worry. It’s not that he didn’t trust Cartoonz, it was just hard to let others lead and for him to let go of what little grasp he had on things.

However, before he could even voice out his objection, the guy was already unknotting the ties of his blindfolds. “They look good on you, but I gotta take these off.”

“T-Toonzy, what are you--”

-  
Cartoonz discarded the gray blindfold behind him, and when he returned to face Ohm, he saw this confused look he wanted to laugh at, his anger from the previous moments completely dissipating. Ohm’s pale eyes focused on Cartoonz’s forehead, squinting. He was probably suspicious about what Cartoonz was about to do.

“Alrighty. Time to get to business,” his voice changed into a light cheery tone. Ohm fidgeted and that brought a little bite of guilt, so Cartoonz started the show. “You ready, Ohm?”

“Yeah. I . . .uhh,” the hesitation was glaring, and for some reason, Cartoonz found it cute.

He held out a hand and cupped Ohm’s cheek as a support, his other hand lifted, his forefinger sporting a gleaming crescent nail. “Close your eyes real quick for me.”

Ohm did. Cartoonz’s nail scraped diagonally across Ohm’s right eye. 

“Oww!” The man flinched and pulled back, as expected. “What are you doing?! I’m already blind!”

The sing-song voice left Cartoonz as he freaked out. “Stay still! I might end up poking your eye out!” Cartoonz wiped a tear that gathered at the side of Ohm’s eye. The sting must have been bad. “Almost done, you big baby.”

 

And Cartoonz almost chuckled when he heard Ohm whispered under his breath: “Motherfucker, it still hurts.”

Ohm was still clutching Cartoonz’s sleeves as the man finished his torture on him. There was a twitch on the lower eyelid of Ohm’s now wounded eye, and it sucked to know that Cartoonz was the reason of his friend’s distress. If only he could, he would make things painless as possible. But it had to happen for this process. Cartoonz sighed, cleared his throat, and tried to smile as the other side of his vision faded into black. “Now, you can look.”

-  
Look?

Ohm’s lids fluttered open, and there was light. Light? After so many months of being in endless shadows, he could now see colors, wavering in front of him, sometimes in seamless transition, sometimes they stopped abruptly to introduce a new color. There was now images again, putting visual companions to the sounds in his ears. There was the blue sky, the fading red bricks, and a lot of brown around him in the form of dried leaves. 

But the most dominant color in his vision was red, and it was in front of him. Ohm blinked the blurriness away until the red sliver became a red arm, his eyes trailing up to see a black sleeve, red clavicles, a prominent jaw, smirking lips, smiling eyes with wrinkles at the sides, and black horns. 

And without thinking coherently if he should say the first thing that came into mind, his mouth opened. “Motherfucker, you’re hot.” Upon realizing the words he just mumbled, Ohm’s hands flew to his mouth as he watched Cartoonz blinked in confusion.

“Wait, what? I didn’t hear you.” Cartoonz grabbed his wrists and brought his hands down from covering his lips. “Repeat that?”

But as Cartoonz stared intensely at him, expecting Ohm to repeat what he blurted out, Ohm loosened up his tense shoulders and tilted his head to have a better view of his face, of the face of the person who granted him another moment to experience the world he knew. Ohm let his eyes harvest every detail, from the shadow of his eyelashes on his lower lid, to the laughlines that encased his pink lips, to the every wrinkle beside the eyes—one brown, one gray and blind. It was a new person, but still with the same heart.

The thing was, Cartoonz was breathtaking, even more so now. The world could offer him a spectrum of colors today, but he would seek for red first.

“Thank you, Toonzy.” Ohm tilted his head to the side. A wide smile he didn’t know he was still capable of doing was right there, painted on his face. “Thank you.”

~^0^~

Cartoonz wasn’t able to sleep that night. In his mind replayed the scene of seeing Ohm’s eye return to green—gradient at first and then sharp, electrifying even. The way his eyebrows lifted, his eyes flying wide, his lips parting in amazement—these were all in Cartoonz’s memory. But nothing was comparable to the time when Ohm’s working iris focused on his red face, Cartoonz saw it trail to the horns sticking out of his forehead, his vibrant blood skin, the fangs his lips couldn’t hide anymore. However, Ohm only softened and smiled at the point others would be wary and scared.

“Thank you, Toonzy. Thank you,” he had said without any discrimination or disgust or surprise. Cartoonz was a half demon, a soul ripped in two, his body incapable of feeling fire or ice. Yet when a spark ignited in his chest that time, he felt it—a single buzz so sudden and quick but set him so much alive. 

He thought of Ohm and his endless gratitude even though Cartoonz just told him how his sight was only temporary. The light inside his chest became warmer. 

And he liked the feeling. There was something addicting to the sensation, making him want to revisit all the times he saw the man smiled, even those not towards him.

So from the time the sky was velvet navy until to the point it turned to a bright cascade of sky blue and orange, he thought of Ohm.

During that duration, the spark turned into a wildfire.

~^0^~

“What? But Cartoonz, it’s fall!” 

It was the next morning, and Cartoonz asked the man to go out again. 

“It is,” Cartoonz pinned his phone between his head and shoulder while pouring milk into his bowl of cereals. “But the ocean is warmer during the beginning of fall.”

“We’re about to enter winter.”

“We’re not going to swim then, because you’re a bitch. Let’s just go.” Of course, Cartoonz wasn’t serious about getting wet this cold season. He found it amusing to argue with Ohm, because the man always meant business about anything. But he wanted to bring Ohm to the ocean because he used to love it. Before the accident happened, he was a surfer.

An hour later, Cartoonz was guiding Ohm into the passenger seat of the car, gently pushing down his brown-haired head to avoid smacking it right into the roof. He would have given Ohm his other eye again, but he was driving and he didn’t want to cause another car crash in the man’s life. He was lucky enough that Ohm agreed to ride the car despite not seeing anything.

In fact, as their car zoomed past the trees of crisp leaves, Ohm was just still. His breathing was even, his face turned towards the open window, probably listening to the sound of the wind whipping past them. 

He looked comfortable and at peace the whole time they were traveling. 

“They’re waiting for you.”

“Who?”

Cartoonz stared straight into the road. “The waves, the ocean, the sand. They know you loved them. They missed you, too.”

And he saw Ohm faced at window, a tiny smile pulling at his lips.

The two arrived at the beach, their car parked at the blurred line of sand and solid concrete. Because the temperature was dropping at this point of the year—well, it’s not that cold for Cartoonz—there were only a couple of people roaming by the shore. And like them, they wore coats and gloves.

Cartoonz’s boots crunched on the sand as he stepped out of the car, his breath fogging the air as he jogged around the hood to get to Ohm’s side. 

-  
Ohm felt the wind tickle his coat from the right when Cartoonz opened the door for him. His cane was cold to the touch, but the warm graze of Cartoonz’s hand to Ohm’s wrist chased away his shivers. He was about to step out, but a tug on his blindfold made him still. 

“Is it really okay to use your power like this?”

-  
No. Cartoonz thought. He just used it yesterday, and his powers hadn’t replenished as it should. Yet he was using it again. 

“Of course!” he happily lied. Since he acquired his demon abilities, no one had ever looked at him the same way again. Not his friends. Not his brothers. Not his family. This was why he ran away from home and spent time for himself. He left everyone behind.

They were the total opposite—everyone left Ohm and Cartoonz left everyone. But they weren’t any less alone than each other.

And now someone would pleasantly gaze at him, Cartoonz would do anything for it to happen again.

 

So his sharp nail sliced lightly across Ohm’s eye again. Red blood bud from the thin scratch, eyelids would flutter, and Ohm’s teeth would sunk into those pink lips. Cartoonz could barely hold himself back from the beautiful sight he was looking at. But everything was forgotten when he saw a jade orb as Ohm opened his eye. In the light of the autumn sky, it shared the color with the green moss of the rocks near the shore, a contrast to the withering surroundings.

A vibrant representation of life.

-  
Ohm’s vision was filled with a gray cloudy sky, blue waves that skimmed over the shore over and over again, the sheen of the red car glaring at his eye—he didn’t raise his hand to block it.

Ohm would accept all the light.

He had always heard the wind, just like how he heard everything he could not see. And now he had his temporary eyesight back, he kept on looking to where the whistle and whoosh had been coming from, forgetting that not all he could hear was tangible. He chuckled at his foolishness first, but then he got sad at how his blind world could easily make him forget of basic things.

“Go away from Ohm, stupid waves! I did not expect you to reach up here!” The two were nearer to the waters now, Ohm standing a couple of feet from it and Cartoonz kicking the sand that made his shoe fly off into the water. “Goddammit! They’re reaching closer to us! Why does it have to be high tide today?!” 

Ohm laughed and let his sight wander around the sky. “Imagine those waves, traveling their whole lives to find a shore, only for you to scold them and try to disassemble them because you’re being a child. Let them come to me. I’m not as sickly as before. A little damping of toes isn’t going to give me colds.”

To prove his point, he removed his shoes and let the water rush towards his feet. Witnessing his toes sunk into the sand, drowned by the water, was very surreal that he had to crouch down and touch them if they were real.

Everything was real. He was a part of earth that second.

~~0~~

Later that night, Cartoonz couldn’t sleep again. This was the second night in a row. Today, there was something in Ohm that was so calm that he couldn’t be disturbed by anything. The man was crouched and feeling the sand, and Cartoonz had called his name over and over again, but he wasn’t responding. At first he was worried, but later on, he saw Ohm wiped the tear from his eyes. 

And it was just dawning on Cartoonz that Ohm was recording everything with his heart—from sight, to touch—because they both knew his eye working that way was only temporary.

There was that fleeting feeling again, and instead of allowing himself to be carried away, he acknowledged the unsettling sensation inside his chest. These feelings were all but convenient. First of all, they were friends. Second, he was a demon, Ohm a human. Third, if he messed it up, no one would look after Ohm. 

They only have each other.

~0~

The next day, Cartoonz was sick. Not the kind that needed a cold compress or a pill to shove down his throat. Something in his gut burned. It rumbled low at first, a little bit more intense than the growl of his stomach when he was hungry.. Cartoonz assumed he just needed food, but later on, he could make out words from the low grumble. Used. . .Too Much. I hear. .thinking.

He jolted from his bed, his arms rubbing his stomach, his heart pulsed so hard his brain beat along. And then the doorbell rang, nearly scaring him out of his own skin.

“Dammit.”

He sighed and rubbed his face first before stumbling to the floor, struggling to get to the door. His body was weak, but he didn’t know it was worse when his knees almost buckled from carrying his own weight. He debated if he should really get to the door, but the buzz of his doorbell was persistent. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Cartoonz moved and went to the door, heaving.

Cold air whooshed when he swung it open, and a blind-folded man with a cane was standing there, shifting from one foot to another to ease the cold.

His eyes opened wide. “What the fuck, Ohm? Why are you here? Hell, how are you here?” 

Ohm stopped fidgeting from cold, his forehead wrinkled a little bit. “I just brought food. My family visited and they brought me too much so I thought I’d share it with you. And you don’t need to yell at me.”

“You’re reckless.” Cartoonz disregarded the first part of Ohm’s explanation. “Of course, I’d yell at you! You live far away from me!”

“Luke, I know you’re just concerned. Listen, there is a little goodness in humanity. Me being here is a proof. People helped me get here.”

Cartoonz threw his hands up in the air. “How can you believe in people again when one of those motherfuckers are the reason you’re blind right now?!”

The blindfolded man winced and stepped back away from Cartoonz. “Can you calm down? I just want to go here, alright? I’ll go if I’m not welcome.”

The surroundings were quiet, no cars passed, no trees rustled. So when Ohm said those words, Cartoonz heard the sad lilt like an explosion. His arm was suddenly away from the hinge of the door, reaching out for Ohm’s hand. His lungs were out of breath, his mind panicking. All the defiance left him when the man said he would go.

The anger and the questions were gone in his mind and were exchanged with longing.

Red slim fingers curled around a pale delicate wrist, much gentler than the first time they touched.

There was a gasp from Ohm, and Cartoonz thought he was surprised to the sudden touch, but he was wrong. “You’re running a fever! Why didn’t you say?” Ohm slowly inched closer and gently slapped Cartoonz’s nose and cheeks in an attempt to find his forehead.

“I was gonna!” Cartoonz exclaimed and it hurt his throat. “But I got angry first because you’re risking yourself for stupid reasons.”

“I came here for you.” 

“And I say that is a stupid reason! You should’ve called me first so I could have--” 

“Get back to bed!” Ohm yelled, an arm stretched and pointed to the direction of his bedroom. Cartoonz’s heart stopped when he laid a gaze at Ohm. Because he was looking directly at Cartoonz, his gray eyes intently holding his with a bravado of a seeing person.

It was intimidating, but it was also astounding.

This was the first time he witnessed Ohm lost his cool, giving him a front row seat on how hard he clenched his jaw, how tight his grip on his black cane. Ohm was never angry. In fact, as the seconds ticked, his face turned to the side, cheeks hued pink as if he was ashamed of what he just did. “Just let me do this. Let me take care of you. As a payment for making me experience light again. Please.”

Cartoonz, for a good moment, did not move. He didn’t want being ordered around like this, but he also felt warmer than usual at the thought that Ohm was going to take care of him. He wasn’t used to being taken cared of. 

But before anything else, he reached for Ohm’s face, his forefinger hovered over his eyes and ready to give him a portion of his sight.

“No. Stop.” Ohm cupped Cartoonz’s hand. “I don’t need that. I can work my way around here. I’ve been here before. You need to rest.”

In his head, Cartoonz debated whether to listen to Ohm or not. He didn’t want to just let the idiot wander around blind—he had a couple of complicated appliances in here. But Cartoonz was on the verge of his capabilities too, the longer he used his power, the louder the growl in him resonated. 

“Come here.” Then suddenly, arms wrapped around Cartoonz, careful and caressing. It caught him off-guard—being encased in someone else’s arms, being that person who received the other end of affection. He was indeed sick because now he could feel the sensation of the action and it coursed along his spine. 

It was warm but it made him shiver.

When his back sunk into the bed, sleep automatically pulled him under, his consciousness failing to find a grip to make him stay awake. But he could remember some of those times when he was. One time he woke up to a wet cloth on his forehead, then Ohm’s voice hummed and shushed him when he stirred. 

“Bitch,” Cartoonz murmured before falling back to sleep.

He last heard a chuckle.

The second time he woke up, the whirring of his washing machine echoed in his ears and it triggered a pulsing headache. He jolted and sat up, remembering Ohm who might have fallen into the washer because he was too stubborn to follow what he was told. 

Cartoonz tossed his blanket to the side, only for his hand to smack onto something soft.

-  
“Ow!” Ohm’s hands flew to his stomach, making sure he hid the cuts and burns he got for trying to cook something. “You’re always so reckless. Calm down some time, Toonzy. No one is chasing after you.”

“You bitch. I got worried about you that’s why I was rushing!” 

Ohm paused, his hands falling onto his lap. He wasn’t expecting that. “Oh.”

“Why are your hands hurt?” His hands were taken from his lap, fingers gently caressing them. He wanted to take them back, shoved them inside his pockets, but there was something in the softening of Cartoonz’s voice that he would like to hear again. “You even haven’t tended them yet. Dammit.”

He heard rustling of sheets, groaning of the bed springs, and pads of footfalls on the floor. Ohm turned his head, following the sounds, and spoke. “You should get back to bed. These are nothing.”

“Nothing my ass.” The words echoed across the hallway and Ohm smiled to himself. The tough tiger could soften to certain circumstances. Most of all, he softened to Ohm, and it made him bow so low into his lap to hide his pinking cheeks.

When Cartoonz arrived, Ohm corrected his posture, and expected to feel the cold salve over his skin. But that didn’t happen. There was a stinging pain across his right eye, and he hissed in pain, jumped back in surprise.

Cartoonz sighed, and Ohm immediately leaned forward. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s just. . .”

“It’s okay. I should have warned you.” Then Ohm endured the last slash of pain.

He actually didn’t want to be able to see. He didn’t want to witness that beyond the soft tone and gentle caresses, Cartoonz’s face would remain cold, or worse—snarling and annoyed. Ohm surely wanted to keep his fantasies free of reality, wanted to imagine Cartoonz with his soft laughter and cheeky grin.

“Open your eyes.” 

And Ohm did. One of his eyes was working again. But before colors invaded his sight again, warm mouth crashed against his. Suddenly, he was blind again. His lids automatically closed, quickly understanding what was happening, and his lips devoured what he could. His heart danced inside his chest, a tornado of all sorts of feelings.

But mostly, elation.

His hands ran on hot skin, sometimes clawing, sometimes grazing, sometimes just still. He could very much feel the fangs, the wet tongue. The pull of his body to be closer to Luke—chest to chest, skin to skin—was so strong.

And Ohm was ready to take and take and take and shed and shed and shed.

But Cartoonz pulled away. The clutches became caresses, the hunger turning gentleness. Ohm wasn’t ready for the intimacy to stop, but when he opened his eyes, there was serenity on Cartoonz face and a little smile on his lips. He could see his own reflection on the man’s seeing eye—he was flustered and glowing.

Their foreheads touched. Ohm closed his eyes once more. For this was something he wasn’t supposed to see. This was something he was supposed to feel and savor. 

“I’m sorry. For freaking out on you earlier,” said the low rumbling tone of Cartoonz. 

“‘S okay. I understand.”

“It’s just that I’m not used to anyone taking care of me. I always do that to people, to my brothers Evan, Tyler, and Jonathan. Raising them erased my own needs so I could prioritize theirs. I tell them bedtime stories, but I never experienced one.”

“Whaaat?” Ohm leaned back and stared horrified at Cartoonz. “I should read you something now. Hold on. I think I found the bookshelf earlier.”

-  
Ohm came back with two Sherlock Holmes, one under his arm, the other already open on his hands, and Cartoonz got back to bed with a smile. He enjoyed listening to the little melody of Ohm’s pronunciation, accents, and soft intonations. Cartoonz was so comfortable that even when he wasn’t supposed to, he fell asleep.

There was nothing in his dreams but black. Darkness. Eternal shade. It was a comfortable darkness at first, but when it stretched into a long time, he panicked, arms stretching further out to feel for walls, cabinets, anything. When he was sure there was nothing, he ran towards nowhere until he heard wailing. 

He followed it.

He woke up. 

At first he thought it was his alarm, but he suddenly felt fists pounding his chest. Every strike was pulling his consciousness to the surface, until the incoherent sobbing became clear. A voice crying out his name over and over again like an incantation. He opened his eyes, and Ohm’s face slid into his vision, tears dropping endlessly. 

“Oh you’re alive! You are alive. Thank God. Thank heavens. You weren’t breathing I swear.” Then Ohm dropped his face onto Cartoonz’s chest, gripping the collar of his clothes, sobbing some more. “I was scared. I-I’ve never been that scared even when that accident happened. I am so sorry. I-I think it was me. I used the eye the whole night to read. I just missed it so much. . .”

A hand patted Ohm’s head. “It’s okay. I’m still alive, aren’t I?” Ohm bit his lower lip and nodded. “Com’ere. Let’s sleep some more.” And there in Cartoonz’s arm Ohm settled his head and slept. 

Cartoonz closed his eyes and talked in his mind. “How much time do I still have?” The low voice was back, but this time it was so clear that he had to look at Ohm and see if he heard it too. But the man was calming as he rested on Cartoonz’s body. “A day, my dear. Then you will drop to hell and your soul will be completely mine.” 

Cartoonz hugged Ohm tighter in his arms when he heard that. 

~o~

“I’ll drive you home.” Cartoonz offered in a firm voice, despite his throat closing in. There was nothing in his vision but Ohm. Heavens may fall to earth or hell might rise to the sky, but his eyes would not stop memorizing all of Ryan. 

It was the next morning, and he was starting to have a hard time of grabbing a hold of his power and actions.

“No, Cartoonz,” Ohm adjusted the collar of his coat. “I’ll be fine. You just rest.” 

“It’s just driving.” 

“Hush. It can use up a lot of energy. Just rest for today. I’ll see you on the next days.” 

“Let me at least walk you to the bus station.” It was practically a plea, and he didn’t care. If being with Ohm was the last thing Cartoonz would ever do, then he couldn’t think of a better way to go.

He saw the hesitation on the man’s face, but eventually nodded. 

-  
The station was a fifteen-minute walk, and it was spent in silence. Ohm was being guided by Cartoonz since he was once again blind, but there was something unsettling about these sweet gestures of the man.

The two were in a waiting shed, Ohm regretting bringing Cartoonz because it was now snowing. He could feel the cold seeped through his clothing. “I told you to—” 

But his cold lips were covered by warm ones. A gasp escaped him, but he didn’t pull away. He’d been observing these very lips the whole night, wanting a taste of ecstacy once more. They were perfect the first time and no less fantastic now.

But something about the kiss was. . .demanding. As if Cartoonz wanted Ohm’s attention to him and only him.

-  
When Cartoonz pulled away—and it took all of him to do so—Ohm was opening his eyes. “No. Don’t open them yet.” The usually tough voice of Cartoonz was now in a soft tone. 

“Hmmkay.” Ohm answered. A talon dragged over the man’s right eye and it bled. Another wound crossed over it, and he didn’t flinch. It looked like he was getting used to the pain. He shouldn’t. He shouldn’t. No one should ever get used to pain, especially Ohm and his kind heart. 

But Cartoonz wasn’t done--he made another scratch to Ohm’s other eye. “Cartoonz. .What?” The voice shrank into a disbelieving whisper.

“I’m going to tell you something but I want you to close your eyes until I’m finished.” Cartoonz instructed.

Ohm bit his lip. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.” 

“Do you promise, Ohm?” 

“I. . .do. I promise.”

Cartoonz sighed as he finished marking the other eye, his vision now complete black like his dream. “Half of my soul was sold to a devil. You know that already. I can mend my soul slowly, but it could take years to have it all back. You know that, too.” Cartoonz wrapped his arms around Ohm, and Ohm did the same to the man. “What you don’t know is the more I use my powers, the more I lose my soul to the devil. Before, I never really cared if I died. I have nothing. But that was until we met often than usual. The first time I used my power on your eyes I witnessed how you drank everything in with awe. As if everything you looked at was beautiful. Hell. Even me. When you looked at me and my horrible demon body, you looked at me no differently. And seeing you glow in happiness. . .made me happy, too. So I used my power to you over and over again. And this one is the last time.”

-  
Ohm blinked up at Cartoonz, at the pale blind eyes that were just his moments ago. “Please. Don’t exhaust yourself. Take your eyes back. I don’t want it if you’re going to be in grave danger.”

Cartoonz’s lips turned up at one corner. “Ohm, I am meant to die today. There is fire waiting for me in hell.” Arms wrapped even tighter around Ohm and his eyes watered. He didn’t want to hear what was next. He didn’t want Cartoonz to continue. This was all too much, they were just building fire with their lips and bodies last night. How did they end up like this? But Ohm also didn’t have to strength to speak. If it weren’t for Cartoonz holding him, he would have slid down the floor. “And these eyes, I can never use them down there. They would see ugly things. So I’m giving it to you. With you, they will see brightness, beauty, and peace.”

“Please, Cartoonz.” He sobbed. “There has to be a way.”

“You see, you gave me a good life these past couple of days,” Cartoonz said with a bit of smile coloring his voice. “I could live for a hundred years but I might not experience that kind of happiness. Thank you for being in the last days of my life.” 

Ohm opened his mouth but nothing escaped. He ended up shaking his head to the side and jiggled Cartoonz’s arms.

“I won’t forget you, Ryan.”

“NO!”

Cartoonz went limp in his arms, his temperature suddenly lower than the weather, and Ohm knew. Tears welled from his eyes, his face sinking onto the dead man’s shoulder to suppress a scream. 

Because life was unfair. It brought back his sight, only to make him witness his world crumbling.


End file.
